Washbasin lock for sleeping car rooms



March 20, 1951 J. J. MAYER WASHBASIN LOOK FOR SLEEPING CAR ROOMS Filed Aug. 25, 1948 FIGi INVENTOR. 40 JOHN J. MAYER A T TORNE Y Patented Mar. 20, 1951 WASHBASIN LOOK FOR SLEEPING CAR ROOMS John I. Mayer, Philadelphia, Pa assign'or to The" Budd" Company, Philadelphia, Pa;,

tion' of Pennsylvania Application August 23, 1948; SerialNo. 453.668;-

4' Claims: (01. 105-315) The invention relates. to a bedroom arrange.- ment and, more particularly, to anarrangement for single-occupancy bedrooms, such as are used on certain types. of railway, sleeping cars.

Such bedrooms are ordinarily arranged. along opposite sidesof: a center aisle with their. greatest dimension. extending lengthwise of the car. They are. ofv dimensions notsubstantially greater than the length. and width of a bed, and are usually. equipped with. a folding bed, a folding. seat, ahopper, a folding washbasin, a. wardrobe and other accessoriesiorthe comfort. and. conve'nienceof the person occupying such a room.

When the bed is extended for. use,. it extends. over the hopper and thus renders thelatter inaccessible when the bed is in. this position. The \vashbasin is, however, mounted in such relation to the bedthatit" can be extended for. use, even when the bed is in this extended use position. It is desirable to have, the Washbasin locked in its. folded or inoperative position to avoid misuse. of the. washbasin when the hopper is. inaccessible.

It is an. object of'the invention to provide a simple andinexpensive' locking, means for the washbasin which is' rendered effective, in the movement of the bed t'oit's' extended use'positi'on,

to secure the basinin' itsfolded'inoperative position when the bed is extended.

It is" a further object of the invention tolproivide' such a" lockin means which; if the washbasin is'in extended or use position when the bed is'inoved to: horizontal use position, is renderedoperative by the movement of the bed, sothat? the washbasin is automatically" locked if it is swung-to folded position after the bed is moved to use position. V

'The'se objects and other and further objects and advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description when read in comnection with the accompanying drawings forminga part offthis' specification. I i

In the drawings, which are more? or" 1e'SSi di3Z- grammatic,

Figure 1: is a sectional plan view through one' room and part ofanadjacent room equipped accordingto the invention, the bed being showninoperative or use position and the folding wash?- basin: being shown in dotted lines: in folded or inoperative position and in dot-and-dash lines inextended or useposition;

.-Figure.2 is an: enlarged elevational View of the wall in which. the washbasin isv folded, parts being. broken away and. parts. shown in section,

Figure 3 is an elevationalview looking toward? the parts shown in Figure,- 2 along, the line 3-3 oiFigureZ, partsbeing broken away and shown" in section Figure 4=isa detail sectional. view through the washbasinlatch and adjacent parts, the section being taken. alongv the line 44 of. Figure 3; and

Figure 5' is a view similar to Figure 4 showing the position of the. parts. when. the latch. is. re-

tainedin its inoperative position.

In the form of the invention selected for'illus- "tra t-ion, the room in which. the invention is embodied is generally similar and similarly. arranged.-

inthecar to the rooms shown. in cope'nd'ing. application Serial. No. 583,259, Sleeping. Car Arrangement, filed March 1.7; 1945'.

The room is bounded by the aislelwall. H. on the opposite side, and longitudinally spaced transversev end walls l2, In. the car side wall, the roomis provided with a large window i4 and, in the. aisle wall, it is rovided with a doorway and. door IS, the latter sliding.

into a recessv lhwhen opened. The doorway is shown. arranged. approximately centrally. of the lengthwise extentof the room,.and alongtheaislewall atone side of the doorway is arranged a wardrobe ll extending toward one end wall I24 ofthe room.

Adjacent the. opposite: transverse wall H of," the, room a: hopper I1 is disposed in: the corner between said transverse wall and the car side wall, and. the. folding washbasin I8 is foldable i into a recess l9 on said transverse wall adjacent the aisle side of the room. When the room is made up for: day-time occupancy, the bedv 29: is

folded. about a pivoted connection (not shown)v to thevertical position against the transverse wall l2, as shown at the leitof. Figure. 1. in the next adjoining room. A seat and seat back 21 is. thenpositioned. withits back resting against the bottom of. the bed.

application, and the bed extends substantially from end wallltoend wall of the room andnearly across the entirewidth of the room. It is locked in this position by any suitable means (not shown).

Preferably, to provide standing-room. space betweenthe" bed. and the aisle wall and to permit the lowering and. raising of the bed with the occupant standing in this space, the inner side of the bedlis' provided with an ofisetportion 22 narrowing: the'wid'th of the. bed in this relongitudinally ex-" tending car side wall I18" on the oneside, and the gion. This narrowed bed portion extends from adjacent the doorway to the foot end of the bed. The offset also provides the necessary width between the inner margin of the bed and the aisle wall to permit the mounting of a washbasin I8 of suitable size on the adjacent transverse wall. As shown in Figure 1, when the washbasin is lowered, it extends part-way into this space, so that even when the bed is down, the occupant can stand in front of the basin when it is in open position. Ordinarily, since the space is restricted by the extended washbasin, the operator would naturally move the washbasin to the folded position, shown in dotted lines in Figure 1, before lowering the bed to the horizontal use position. However, if he should fail to do so, no harm to the washbasin would result by the lowering of the bed, inasmuch as the paths of movement of the two lie outside each other, and the washbasin can be moved to the folded position after the bed is lowered.

The wash basin can be operated freely except when the bed is in its operative use position. If the basin should be left in extended position, while the bed is being moved to the operative position, the basin can still be folded to the inoperative position when the bed is in said operative position. As soon as the basin reaches such folded position, it will be positively and automatically locked. The means by which the control of the wash basin is accomplished will now be described in detail.

The side 23 of the washbasin adjacent the bed is provided with a recess forming a locking shoulder 24. The adjacent side 25 of the recess in which the washbasin folds carries the mechanism for controlling the locking of the basin. This mechanism may be mounted on a channelshaped base plate 26 secured to the outer face of the basin-receiving support. Opposite the recess forming locking shoulder 24 is provided an opening in the side 25 and base plate 26, and a latch 21 is mounted on a bracket 28 by a hinge pin 29 so as to swing through said openings to engage, through a rounded locking face 30 thereon with the locking shoulder 24, as shown in Figure 4. A coil spring 3! reacting between the latch and its mounting bracket constantly urges the latch toward its locking position. The latch is also provided with a cam face 32, which is engaged by the washbasin side to swing the latch aside when the washbasin is moved to its inoperative position.

As shown in Figures 1 to 4, inclusive, the latch 21 is free to move into engagement with the looking shoulder 24 under the action of its spring 3|. This is the condition in which the bed is in the down or operative position, as shown in these figures.

Normally, i. e., when the bed is in folded or inoperative position, the latch is retracted to the position shown in Figure 5, and the washbasin can be operated freely. To effect such retraction, a flange 33 is provided on the free edge of the latch, and this flange is engaged by cam 34 movable parallelly to the pivot of the latch. Preferably, the cam 34 is carried by a rectangular bar 33 guided in spaced brackets 31 on the base plate 26. Normally, the cam is held in raised position shown in dotted lines in Figure 2 and in full lines in Figure 5, where it restrains the latch in the inoperative position, by a coil spring 38 encircling the bar 36 and reacting against one of the brackets 31 and a shoulder 39 on the bar 36. This spring 38 must be sufficiently strong to overcome the spring 3| and the frictional resistance between the latch flange 33 and the cam 34.

As shown in the figures, the bar 36 has secured to its lower end a laterally extending arm 40 of roughly S-form in plan, this arm projecting through a vertical slot 4| in the fairing sheet 42 closing the side of the washbasin support. At its outer end, the arm 48 is formed with a rubber bumper 43, which lies in the path of the bed and is adapted to be engaged by the bottom of the bed to move the cam 34 out of restraining engagement with the latch in the last of the downward movements of the bed to its use position. While the bed is locked in its use position, the cam is thus held in inoperative position, freeing the latch to be moved by its spring to engage the washbasin shoulder 24 and lock the basin in its inoperative position.

Since the latch 21 and its control mechanism are all mounted on the base plate 26, they can be readily assembled with this on a bench and the base plate unit so formed finally assembled or disassembled with the room wall supporting the basin.

The operation of the device is believed clearly understandable from the foregoing description.

While a specific form of the invention has been described in detail, it will be understood that changes and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the main features of the invention, and such changes andimodifications are intended to be covered by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a room, a washbasin movable between operative and inoperative positions, a latch for locking said basin in its inoperative position, means constantly urging said latch toward its locking position, means biased to lock the latch in its inoperative position against the action of said urging means, and a bed movable between operative and inoperative positions, said biased means being operable by the bed against its bias, when the bed is moved to its operative position, to free the latch and permit it to be moved to its operative position under the action of said urging means.

2. In a room, a washbasin movable between operative and inoperative positions, a latch for locking said basin in its inoperative position, a spring urging the latch toward its locking position, means for locking the latch in its inoperative position, a spring for moving said means to its locking position, and a bed movable between operative and inoperative positions, said means being operable by the bed, when the bed is moved to its operative position, to free the latch and permit it to be moved to its operative position under the urging of its spring.

3. In a room, a washbasin movable between operative and inoperative positions, a springpressed latch for automatically locking said basin upon movement of the basin to its inoperative position, cam means normally locking said latch, against the pressure of its spring, in an inoperative position, a spring for moving said cam means to, and normally holding it in, its locking position, a bed movable between operative and inoperative positions, and means projecting into the path of movement of said bed and connected to said cam means for moving the latter, against the action of its spring means, out of locking engagement with said latch when the bed is moved to its operative position, thereby freeing the latch and permitting it to be moved to its operative position under the action of its spring.

4. In a room, a bed foldable against one end wall of the room and movable to horizontal use position in which it extends substantially to the opposite end Wall of the room from said firstnamed end wall, a hopper adjacent said opposite end wall of the room rendered inaccessible by the bed when the latter is in its use position, a folding washbasin mounted on a room wall and movable between folded and horizontal use positions, means for automatically locking said washbasin when moved to its folded position while the bed is in horizontal use position, and means for normally retaining said locking means in an inopera 15 2,443,552

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,147,011 Crawford Feb. 14, 1939 2,323,069 McKinnon June 29, 1943 Brack June 15, 1948 

